Brokerages Set Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) Target Price at $226.00

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $227.60.

MMC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $255.00 to $259.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $242.00 target price on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $219.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Marsh & McLennan Companies from $248.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Up 0.9 %

MMC opened at $232.77 on Friday. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a twelve month low of $184.28 and a twelve month high of $233.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $223.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.67, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.94.

Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.02. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 16.82%. The firm had revenue of $5.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 8.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Marsh & McLennan Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.815 dividend. This represents a $3.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. Marsh & McLennan Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.15%.

Insider Activity at Marsh & McLennan Companies

In related news, Director Oscar Fanjul sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.55, for a total value of $553,875.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 48,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,756,030.95. The trade was a 4.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Marsh & McLennan Companies

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,445,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,784,190,000 after purchasing an additional 518,185 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,905,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,648,304,000 after buying an additional 251,361 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,530,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $954,712,000 after acquiring an additional 223,257 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 2.0% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 4,274,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $953,683,000 after acquiring an additional 85,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 1.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,409,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $718,368,000 after purchasing an additional 58,461 shares during the period. 87.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Marsh & McLennan Companies

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc, a professional services company, provides advice and solutions to clients in the areas of risk, strategy, and people worldwide. It operates through Risk and Insurance Services, and Consulting segments. The Risk and Insurance Services segment offers risk management services, such as risk advice, risk transfer, and risk control and mitigation solutions, as well as insurance and reinsurance broking, strategic advisory services, and analytics solutions, and insurance program management services.